Hello Everyone, Reader Here. Today I bring you the second chapter for Night Until Dawn. I updated the last chapter to fix the calendar, with the BBY and ABY issues, and to add more events, so if you have not read it you can. This chapter will deal with the first contact between the Turians and the New Republic. Thanks, and Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER:I DO NOT OWN MASS EFFECT OR STAR WARS. THEY BELONG TO THERE RESPECTIVE OWNERS
Chapter 2: A Faithful Exchange
The Spirit of Palavan, Captain Malak Ortana, 2157 Galactic Standard Time (40 ABY)
Captain Malak stood in the control room of the Dreadnought Spirit of Palavan, one of the most boring duties any ship captain gets stuck with. Patrolling the edges of known space was a task that was embedded in the Treaty of Thessia, forcing the inactive navies of the Turians to patrol council space, warding off various threats while enforcing the Line of Demarcation, which forbid any type of colonization past the line.
The Line of Demarcation was created to prevent a second Rachni war, a war that nearly destroyed all intelligent races of the galaxy, while also lead to the brutal Krogan war. With the line in place, they hoped not to possibly disturb a potentially destructive force that could await them outside in unknown space. Groups in recent years have tried to challenge the line by attempting to open inactive mass relays, the only known way to travel between solar systems. His job was simple: Make sure no idiots attempt to open the relay, and in the case the relay was ever opened he would attempt to contain the threat.
A heavy sigh escaped his mouth he gazed out the veiwport of the the ship, seeing nothing but the usual emptiness of space and the inactive relay. Other than the occasional pirate or slaver attack, his crew were bored out of their minds. The Turians were a proud militaristic culture that born after centuries of war, and when their was not fighting that meant complete and udder boredom for those aboard a military ship.
'Wish we were out fighting in the Terminus system border. They always seem to get action out there, but here we just get to guard a damn relay' he through while stretching a bit. He had heard the famous old stories about brave Turian warriors going off to fight the evil Krogan, the same courage that earned them the esteemed position of being the traditional military wing of the Citadel. He wanted a chance to be hero, to have stories of courage and valor to be told about him like his forefathers before. All he needed was one great victory...
As he thought this a loud explosion was heard as he was sent flying to the ground, smashing his head. Nearby holo-panels began acting strange, images going static and sound becoming distorted. Regaining his senses, he slowly stood up from the floor, rubbing his head as he looked out the window. What he saw shocked him to his core. The once dormant relay was now lighting up, and the rings now moved violently in random fashion. The relay had become active, and that meant one thing...
His natural Turian instincts went into action. He activated his omni-tool, yelling into the communicator as he frantically moved form place to place, checking the status of the others in the command room.
"This is captain Malak Ortana of the Spirit Of Palavan, all ships into grid formation!" yelled while running towards the pilot of the ship.
The patrol ships went in formation in front of the relay, ready to take on whatever activated it. After a couple of minutes, nothing had come through the relay however. "Pilot, is anything coming through the relay? Any sign o a fleet?" the captain asked the pilot, keeping his cool manner.
"No sir, it just activated, although there were no relays that link to this relay particular relay. Ones like this have to be activated either on this side of the relay, or the one that specifically connects to this relay. Although we did not detect any other ships other than patrol ships. That could mean.." the pilot paused, realizing what his words could mean.
"Sir, do you think this could be ..."
"First contact" the captain finished the pilots sentence. "Tell the other ships to be standby, but remain at their battle stations unless ordered by me" the pilot nodded and began talking into the speaker.
Now Malak was in a tough spot. His orders were to contain any possible threat, but he was unsure of what to do if this was a first contact scenario, which seemed likely under these conditions. On one hand, he go through the relay and take on whatever opened the relay, or he could wait and receive back up from Turian high command. If this was a indeed a new space faring species, their navy most likely be minimally armed and primitively designed. His squad could be sent in to neutralize the alien navy, while they awaited further command from Palavan. However, the possibility of going down in history as the infamous Turian who caused a second Rachni war also another possibility.
Weighing in on the options available to him, he finally came to a decision.
"All ships, be ready to enter the relay within 20 minutes, it seems we have a first contact scenario. We must show these savages what it means to cross with the council!" he radioed to the fleet with a cheery voice, hoping to energize his men.
"Get me a line to the Primarch and the Councillor, they must be notified" he said to the communications officer. He nodded and walked off. Looking out the window again, he felt knots in his stomach as a sense of wrongness filled him.
'This could go down as me being promoted...' he grimaced 'or could bring the something like Rachni to our borders'
1 Hour later
The Turian captain was eating his own words, as the enemy fleet and fighters bombarded the Turian ships. Over half his patrol was now destroyed, and rapidly his own ship was being annihilated. Fire and explosions ripped through The Spirit of Palavan. From his view, he saw utter destruction. Many of the ships in his fleet were already destroyed, torn apart like a desert storm tears apart exposed flesh. He couldnt have been more wrong when he underestimated the power of these aliens. The sheer size and firepower these ships had was staggering, and from what he could tell, whatever the aliens were using completely ignored there shielding and directly hit the armor plating of the ship. Slowly his own ship was being torn apart, readying to become part of the debris field of destroyed Turian warships.
"All remaining ships pull back through the relay, Palavan must warned..."
An enemy bomber flew over dreadnought dropping its payload. The ship shuttered as the bombs detonated. The screeching of tearing metal resounded throughout the ship, along with the sound of escaping oxygen.
"MULTIPLE HULL BREACHES IN SECTIONS 1, 2, 4 AND 6, LIFE SUPPORT FAILING" the pilot yelled into the speaker. The crew panicking, trying to repair the damage done to the ship.
The captains face contorted into and expression of worry and and anger. Not that he was angry at the crew, he knew full well that they had fought honorably and with dedication. No, he was angry with himself for being so foolish in attacking without support from Palavan. Going into a situation blind and arrogant have costed the Turian Hierarchy a few hundred good soldiers. Knowing full well that the likely hood of himself and the other ships escaping the system were slim. But he had to try, knowing well that these aliens could be even worse than the Rachni ever were, with what he was faced with when looking over the boneyard of mangled ships.
"At least 1 ship must make it back and warn Palavan High command, we will cover your escape" he ordered the last remaining ship with a functioning mass effect drive. He turned the the ships pilot.
"Pilot, aim the ship at one of the enemy dreadnoughts and go full speed". The pilot stared at him with an look of shock and fear. Others looked at him is if he was a madman. However, he calmly replied.
"We need at least one ship to make it back to council space and warn them of the danger. In our current state, we cannot make into FTL and will be destroyed anyways. You should understand this pilot, when we made that oath of allegiance to the Primarch, we swore we would lay down our lives to protect the people of Palavan. Now we must do what our fathers and grandfathers have done. Now we must sacrifice our lives to save those else in the galaxy."
The pilot shook his head, gaining a new found confidence with the captains words. Steering the ship and sending it at full throttle, everyone on board held their breaths.
"Well...it was an honor serving with you all" he spoke into the speaker. But then, what happened next would leave the captain dumbfounded.
SSV Chimaera, Captain Han'nah Shep'ard
Captain Han'nah Shep'ard, a native born Chiss, originally born in the Ascendancy but moved to the New Republic stood aboard the Chimaera, an old Dreadnought that surrendered to the republic from the Empire. It was slightly larger than a regular Imperial Star Destroyer, and was once the command Ship of the legendary Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn. This ship had wom many victories for the old empire in its day, but was now serving a protection ship for civilian researchers in hostile territory.
She watched silently as her fleet fired upon the unknown enemy fleet. The sadistic side of her enjoyed the sight of the ships being torn apart by plasma cannons, mangled metal bits being splattered like blood across the battlefield.
"Hmm..." She watched as the enemy fleet, which was made of what she could assume were smaller end frigates were torn apart by TIE bombers and Y-Wing bombers. The shields the primitives employed seemed either not exist, or were ineffective against her fleets firepower.
'Damn primitives' she thought.
What she could assume from the aliens was that they were new to space faring, but have been in space for at least 1000 to 2000 years, due to there ability to maneuver and the tactics they employed. But still, Humans at this point time were the longest space faring species in the known universe, reverse engineered the Hyperdrive and uplifted many species. Few could withstand their power.
'Why do they still fight when they know they lost?' she thought as more and more of the ships were torn apart. Her best guess was that the enemy they were facing was a warlike culture, as any rational person would have fled sooner.
Then she noticed a large portion of the enemy fleet were starting to move towards the unknown artifact.
'That must be how they achieve FLT, they enter those artifacts!' but then another thought crossed her mind.
'SHIT, their escaping!' he mentally yelled. She ould not let these primitives slip out of her hands! She needed prisoners to interrogate, to see why the aliens were hostile and to find out exactly who they were.
"All Gunners, fire Ion cannons at the ships fleeing to the artifacts" she yelled into here Holocomm the ships
Then she saw what she thought was a slightly larger frigate point its bow at her ship.
'Idiots' she mentally snorted. Ramming tactics were something as old as time itself. When your ship is sinking, might as well take the enemy down with you.
"Pilot, I want one of those ships spared, and its occupants alive for interrogation. Have a tractor beam pull that large frigate into hangar bay 6, I don't care if the other ones don't surrender."
"Yes ma'am" the pilot replied.
The tractor beam managed to capture the ship, and slowly pulled it to the Chimaera
"Poodoo! Ma'am, o-one of the sh-ships managed to get to get away!" he nervously spouted.
Sigh
"Great, now we need to do this quick" she pulled out her Holocomm that was linked to the ships speakers.
"This is Captain Hannah, Marine detachment 3 to Hanger 6" she said as she turned off the comm device and turned around and walked through the door.
'This is going to be interesting' she smirked as she pulled out her DL-18 Blaster pistol while walking towards the hangar.
Spirit of Palavan
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" the captain yelled out loud when he saw what was happening to his ship.
"T-The enemy is pulling us towar-"
"DONT YOU THINK I SEE THAT, HOW ARE THEY DOING IT?!" the captain screamed at the lieutenant.
After that, he tried to regain his cool composure.
'Ok, so they have SOMETHING that pull ships at long ranges..what the fuck did I unleash on the Galaxy' he thought. He did not want to be known as the man who unleashed another Rachni on the galaxy.
'Hopefully they see reason' he thought as his ship was pulled into the hanger bay.
"All Crew, head down to the Armory and grab a rifle or something to protect yourself. Were going into the beasts lair." he pulled out a pistol and walked towards the exit of the ship, along with his fellow crew members, they all aimed at the door and waited.
'At least we will go down fighting' all of the crew thought at once.
Hangar Bay 6, Captain Hannah
Hannah gazed upon the detachment of marines standing by quickly assembled shields, usually used for riot control. They stood around 20 feet away from the enemy vessel, waiting for the Juggernauts to open what they could assume was the doors.
Among the crew was mostly human, but there were a variety of species. Among them were some Chiss, Twi'leks, Duros, Nautolan's, Rodians and a couple other species. After the rise of the Empire, which was full xenophobic's, non-humans were dis-allowed to join the Imperial navy and or Army. Non humans like Hannah were allowed to join after its collapse and the establishment of the New Republic.
They were all armed with standard issue E-11 light blaster rifles, which was an all around useful rifle that fire around 100 shots before needing another energy cell.
"Every, set your guns to stun, we need whoever is on the other side alive for interrogation.
Affirmative came from every one who was in the room and then the juggernauts came forward to open the door. Juggernauts carried a type of Arch-welder that could either be used to open something, or used as a weapon in battle.
They began to tear through the armor with ease as they quickly tore it apart until they came off.
*BANG*
They door hit the for with a loud bang.
*PEW* *PEW* *PEW*
The Marines fired a couple shots into the vessel , hoping to take out a couple of enemy soldier in the process.
*Thump*
Form what they heard, a couple of solders dropped as there body's went into a spasm due to being tazed by the shot.
"MOVE IN" Hannah yelled as they slowly moved in with there shields covering them, ready to face whatever was inside.
Then they got there first look at what they were facing.
They looked like an over-sized bird from Earth. It had sharp talons and form what they could assume is that they were mostly male. The weapons they used were strange in design.
"Hey, those look like old firearms humans used a long time ago" noted one human.
"Grab these 'things' and bring them down to the cell hols, we will continue our way through the ship" Hannah said. The nodded, grabbed the strange looking species, and walked off towards the cell blocks.
"Lets Move" The unit of Marines and Hannah moved throughout the ships, taking down whatever got in there way.
After a sweep of the ship, all of the enemy crew (Who were alive) were captured and or surrendered.
"Time for the fun part" Hannah sighed.
Captain Halak, Cell Block A
Halak groaned as he tried to stand up, feeling a burning sensation of whatever the alien soldiers shot him with. The cell was basic, as it only had a lone bed in the corner of the room and a light in the middle. There was some sort of shield that kept him in the cell, which he unfortunately pressed against and burned his hand.
'SHIT That hurts' he though.
He tried to look out too see if there was any of his men in the adjacent cells. All he saw was a lone guard with the weird rifle standing at his side.
Then he heard footsteps coming from down the hall. What he saw shocked him.
There were two different species, both having similar facial structures to an Asari, but one having pale skin, while the other was blue. The blue on also had those weird lumps on its chest like what an Asari has and had red eyes. There were a pair of body guards standing on either side of them.
The two aliens walked up to the cell and ordered the guard to open it. He did and immediately shot him in the arm with a shot from its rifle. The lone Turian collapses with a spasm as the two body guards grabbed him from by each of Halaks arms and dragged him out of the cell and into the hallway.
The blue alien said something to the others but he could not understand what it said.
'The blue one must be the XO of this ship' he looked at the strange looking being.
They dragged him through a series of connected of hallways that seemed to go on forever. As they walked around , he saw even more species other than the two he already saw. Some had weird tentacle things on their heads.
'If the hierarchy goes to war with...whatever this is ... I dont think we will win' he grimaced as he thought. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he reached the designated room.
'Interrogation...' he mentally prepared himself for whatever horrors waited him on the other side of the door. He passed out from the pain of the stun shot.
Captain Hannah, Interrogation Room A
"This is Captain Hannah, are you ready for interrogation?" she spoke into mic that went to the room.
"Affirmative" came from the interrogator.
She opened the door and walked in. They dragged the prisoner in and strapped him into the chair. He was knocked out due to the stun shot and they waited for him to wake.
The guards walked out of the room and took position in front of the door to make sure none of this was leaked.
"It's been a while Hannah" she turned around to see one of here best non-chiss friends, Jedi Master Anderson.
Anderson was one of the most decorated Jedi in the New Jedi Order, having fought during the Rebellion against the Empire nearly 40 years ago. He won countless victories over the Empire, and the Sith.
She and him met during on of the last battle against the remnants of the Empire. After the battle they talked and ever since they have kept in touch and became good friends.
She threw her hand around Anderson and pulled him into a hug.
"Its been too long Anderson, I knew that there was a Jedi on board but they didn't tell me it was you!" she pulled out of the hug walked towards the other side of the room.
"Yeah, when I saw your name I thought I would surprise you" he looked sheepishly at the ground while pulling on his robes.
"Well, whatever, first lets get this over with, then lets have a chat afterwards"
"Sure" he replied. They both sat on the opposite side of the room, waiting for the prisoner to wake up.
She pulled up Alex
"Hey Alex, while we are waiting, can you begin splice the data on those ships?"
"Sure I can, but it might take a while"
"That's fine"
Captain Harak
The captain woke up strapped into a chair racing the Blue alien and the other alien, although the one he saw earlier was paler, the one he was facing now was darker.
The alien closed his eyes, as if he was meditating. Then he opened his eye.
"Can you understand me?" the alien said.
Harak was shocked.
"How do you know my language?!" he stuttered out.
'Do they have a more Advanced version of the Asari Meld?' he wondered.
"I merely looked into mind to learn the basics of your language, nothing more" it said coolly, as if it was nothing.
"YOU READ MY M-" he was cut off.
"I only read the part about language, it is against my morals to read your entire mind"
He cooled down upon hearing these words.
'At least they have some morals'
"Can you understand me?" the conversation suddenly turned towards the blue alien.
Harak nodded.
"Ok, Hannah I am done, time for you to do your job."
"Sure, lets get started Anderson" said the Blue alien, or Hannah.
"Now, lets get down to business " she said in a grim tone.
Halak gulped, knowing what she was about to take place.
'Hopefully we can dissuade them from attacking the Hierarchy, or the council'
Captain Hannah
"Who are you and what is your species called?"
"I am Malak, we are of the Turian Hierarchy" he responded.
"Are there more species other than yours?"
"Yes, there many other species, but the largest are the Asari, and the Salarians, they and us make up a council that rules known space"
She stopped asking questions, digesting what she heard.
'Hmm, another superpower to deal with, great..' she continued.
"Why did you fire on our vessels?"
"It is council law that we are not allowed to open any relay, unless with permission of the council, we were acting on order of the Councillor and -" he was interrupted as Anderson cut into the interrogation.
"He is lying to you, Hannah" She glared at the Turian. Hannah saw it shrink when she did that.
"Now, tell me the truth, and maybe we can continue doing this the easy way" she pulled out a needle. A VERY long needle to be correct.
The Turian gulped.
"F-F-Fine, I ordered the attack, I-I wished to get a promotion out of this,people who contribute much to the hierarchy usually get on" it looked down at the table.
Hannah pinched the bridge of her nose.
There was beep form here Holocomm.
"Hey, this is Alex, i managed to splice all the data, I also was nice enough to translate it for you, I better get something good outta this" Alex spoke to Hannah, in her native voice so the Turian could not understand her.
She laughed
"Ok, ill try to get something special for yeah. Thanks Alex"
"No Problem,sending data to datapad" he responded. The image of his hologram faded.
She quickly skimmed through the pages to get some basic info.
'These species think they are the best.. hmm...just like the damn Imperials' she thought while going over the data.
From what she has read, he has been truthful..up until the part with who ordered the attack..
She turned her attention back the the interrogation
"Ok, whe-"
*She was interrupted as the sirens rang out.
"ENEMY FLEET SPOTTED, ALL PILOTS TO HANGER BAY 1, 2, 3 AND 4, ALL MARINES AND GUNNERS TO BATTLESTATIONS, CAPTAIN HANNAH, YOU ARE NEEDED IN CONTROL TOWER" the Speakers echoed.
"Well, things seemed to have escalated quickly' she murmured.
"Gaurds, take the alien and bring it to the cell blocks, make sure they do not escape" the gaurds pulled back the straps, and Escorted the Turian back to its cell.
'This info will be Very useful' she mused as she and Anderson ran to the bridge.
Thanks for reading. Yes shephard is going to be a Chiss, I thought the idea to be cool, and having a human protagonist would be boring. Also, should I make shephard a Jedi, Do you think it would be a cool idea? I possibly will have the next chapter in a couple of hours, though probably not. Thanks again for reading, if you have any questions, ideas for the Fic, or any advice that could help improve my writing, leave a review or PM me. This is reader, signing off.
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